Blurb

Seductive Secrecy (book #2)

With a shadow cast over the mansion, can Charlie and Cameron overcome the destruction of their pasts and rebuild their future, or will the revelation of painful, shocking secrets pull them back into the darkness?

Excerpt

I swallowed the tingles that had made their way into my throat and closed my eyes. I feared his answer, but before I gave in, I had to know if it was her.

“Who did you make this painting for?”

He had pulled down the collar of my shirt, exposing my shoulder. But his lips didn’t touch me; they hovered over my skin, his breath hitting the strap of my bra. “Lora.”

My whole body dried up and my back stiffened at the sound of her name. When he felt the change, his tongue deepened and lengthened across my skin. He was trying to bring back that feeling, but it was gone. I couldn’t go there. Not now…not while her body glared back and taunted me from the canvas, every groove and bump and slope so perfectly portrayed. Of course, he hadn’t needed a picture to work from. Lora’s limbs and torso and breasts were ingrained in his head because his tongue had spent so much time licking them.

“Is she coming here?” I asked.

“I’m bringing it by her place in a few hours, so that gives us plenty of time…”

I didn’t want to turn around; I didn’t want him to see the pain on my face, or the drops of jealousy surfacing in my eyes. But I also knew I couldn’t fake what he wanted me to do. Not when it came to her.

I took a deep breath, reached into my back pocket and pulled out my cell phone. Swiping my finger across the screen, I checked the time. “Shit,” I said. He was standing behind me, looking over my shoulder. I had to make this sound convincing. “I’m running late.”

“A few more minutes won’t¾”

I pulled away from his grip. “No, I really have to go, Cameron.”

Just as I reached for my bag, he came up behind me and wrapped his hands around my stomach. His lips touched my ear. “There’s something you’re not saying here and I’m not letting you leave until you do.”

“This is the second night this week you’ve been to her place.” I opened my mouth to say more, but I closed it. I didn’t need to tell him the real reason I wanted to leave. I had accepted that Lora had a strong presence in his life; he’d never tried to hide her from me. But I had a hard time accepting that the strokes he’d used were made to form her body. I didn’t expect him to constantly be creating mine; I just didn’t want it to be hers that he created instead. “And I just miss you…that’s all.”

“She hired me to do a piece. That’s the only reason I’m going there.”

Lora had hired Cameron to create multiple pieces in the past. He’d met her at an art exhibit shortly after he had graduated from Northeaster. He’d left the event with several upcoming meetings set, one of which had been with her. I didn’t know how their meeting had begun; I only knew it had ended on the stairs going up to the second floor of her townhouse. I also didn’t know when Lora finally told him she was married. But the news hadn’t bothered him, and it didn’t stop him from fucking her, or any of her married friends who he’d also created pieces for. But I wasn’t the one to judge who he slept with. Their affair had always been casual. He said he’d never loved her; it was purely a physical attraction. Whatever they’d had, it lasted up until we had started dating.

“You’d go there anyway, Cameron, regardless if you were working on something for her.”

Even though they were no longer physical, he still respected her and trusted her, and he believed some of his success was due to her. Whenever she came over to the apartment, her gray, all-knowing eyes told me she was either jealous of what we had, or she was jealous of me specifically. It was probably both. I couldn’t help but make the comparison between the two of us when she was in front of me. If Lora was what Cameron was used to, what he truly craved, then I didn’t understand what he was doing with me. She was in her late-forties; like the painting, she was long and curvy; her breasts were full and most definitely fake. Her movements were thought out and sensual. And she didn’t just flirt with her eyes and mouth; she charmed with her whole body, including the smooth British accent that dripped off her tongue.

Seductive Shadows (book #1)

Charlie is a passionate, sensually-inspired art student, desperately seeking an escape from the abusive past that haunts her and a tragic accident that emptied her heart. Scarred and unable to love, her yearning for physical pleasure leads her into a tantalizing, dangerous world of power and seduction. The anonymity of the deal offers security; the money brings financial freedom and the madam is the mother figure she longs for.

But the thrill of the mansion and its arousing dominance quickly fades when she meets renowned-yet-mysterious Cameron Hardy, whose intense baby blue eyes send a nervous flutter through her core. Cameron is sexy, and not in a subtle way. He stimulates Charlie’s art, her intellect and her desires. Just as he begins to break through her emotional boundaries, she discovers a devastating connection between her past and her scandalous work at the mansion, shattering everything she thought to be true.

Provocative, intoxicating and erotic, Seductive Shadows is the unforgettable tale of a young woman’s self-discovery as she learns to forgive, to love and be loved, and to find redemption amidst a remarkable journey that will captivate your mind and stimulate your soul.

This book is for mature audiences. It contains explicit language and sexual content.

A New Englander at heart, Marni Mann is now a Floridian inspired by the sandy beaches and hot pink sunsets of Sarasota. She taps mainstream appeal and shakes worldwide taboos, taking her readers on a dark and breathtaking journey. When she’s not nose deep in her laptop, she’s scouring for chocolate, traveling, reading, or walking her four-legged children. Visit her at www.marnismann.com.